Joey Gallo has been battling a tendon strain behind his left knee since spring training. The Rangers hope four days off during the All-Star break will help the injury improve. Max Faulknermfaulkner@star-telegram.com

Joey Gallo has been battling a tendon strain behind his left knee since spring training. The Rangers hope four days off during the All-Star break will help the injury improve. Max Faulknermfaulkner@star-telegram.com

Joey Gallo hopes tendon strain nuisance improves over break

Joey Gallo has been battling a sore tendon in his left knee since spring training, but the Texas Rangers slugger hopes the four days off during the All-Star break will help it improve.

He was in the lineup Sunday for the first-half finale despite the injury flaring up a few days ago during a pinch-running appearance.

“It’s a lingering thing, but I’ll try to play through it,” said Gallo, who had last started on Wednesday. “I pinch-ran the other day and I felt it hurting a lot again. And then the other day, it started locking up on me and popping, so I just didn’t want to make this worse because I don’t know what it is. I’m just trying to be safe about it.”

The popliteus muscle is located behind the knee and can cause pain and discomfort.